Chapter 26 – Kirby
twenty-six
Kirby
“I’m home,” I say into the phone as soon as I get into my car. “The eagle has landed.”
“Wow,” Kylie says, “you really think highly of yourself.”
“What?” I ask as I make my way to my house. The last five days have been excruciating and long, so fucking long, it felt like two weeks and I’m happy to be fucking home.
“The eagle is a very well-respected bird—” she starts to say, half laughing. “I can’t even say it with a straight face. Welcome home, Mr. President.”
“I’m going to be home in fifteen minutes. Want to have a late lunch with me?”
“I guess since I’m working from home I can come over.
Just don’t tell my boss,” she whispers. “I’ll get food.
” She disconnects and I have the urge to call Lexi and tell her to join us, but I’m not going to pressure her.
I also haven’t spoken to her since she called me Saturday night.
I thought she would text me the next day, but the only thing I saw was Kylie’s social media post with a picture of the two of them at some exercise class and then having coffee at an outdoor café.
Her smile was so big on her face, her eyes so light and free, the picture was everything.
I pull into the gated driveway and press the button for the garage, driving in and then shutting the door. Grabbing my luggage from the trunk, I make my way into the house. “Honey, I’m home!” I shout to the almost empty house.
Walking to the staircase, I take the steps two at a time until I’m in my bedroom.
The shades are half open, so I dump my bag before pressing the button and having the shades open wide.
The minute there is more light in the room, I hear Jefferson’s little bell coming closer and closer.
“Well, hello there.” I look over my shoulder and see her sitting at the entry to the bedroom.
She sits as her eyes get used to the bright sunlight that is now coming into my bedroom.
She blinks a couple of times, her look staring at me like I deserted her.
“I’m sorry, I had to go work.” I sit on the bed, kicking off my dress shoes and then the jacket. “Trust me, I didn’t want to go either.”
She comes in gingerly, taking two steps before stopping and stretching out her two front paws and joining me on the bed.
Her soft meow I’m sure calling me an asshole.
I pet her head and expect her to come and sit beside me, or at least that is what I would like, but instead she turns around, gives me her back, and then goes to lie at the edge of the bed in the sun.
Like she’s a Grecian goddess. “I’m happy I’m home too.
” I get up and walk into my closet with my suitcase, emptying it before I slip into a pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt.
I’m walking down the steps when the front door opens and closes. “Hello, eagle!” Kylie shouts and I join her in the kitchen. “I’ve also just landed.” She looks at me and snorts, pulling out one of the stools and sitting down.
“I got us some salad with grilled chicken,” she says, while I pull out my own stool and sit down. “This is yours since it is the full size.” She hands me the container before taking out hers, which is half the size.
“Let’s trade,” I suggest to her. “I ate on the plane.”
She shakes her head. “I have dinner plans.” I side-look at her. “I don’t want to be too full.”
“Dinner?” I ask her as I open my container. “With who?”
“Don’t get all excited, it’s the HOA meeting.” She takes a bite of a piece of chicken. “Listen, I have to talk to you about something.” She avoids looking at me. “And, well, you might be pissed.”
“Might be or am going to be?”
“That’s in the eye of the beholder,” she tries to joke but doesn’t look up at me, and I can tell it’s serious if she’s avoiding looking at me. “What happened?” I ask her right away. “Are you okay?”
“Oh yeah,” she replies, “it’s really not that big of a deal, but it might be for you.”
“Would you just tell me?”
“Well, I was at Lexi’s place for girls’ night, right?” I nod, listening to her. “And, well, it came out that you are sort of rich.”
“Explain, please.”
“Well, she was going on and on about how you were her boss and then my boss.” She looks at me. “You are not my boss.”
“I’m not anyone’s boss.”
“That’s what I told her also, but anyway, I don’t know why but it came out that you are Richie Rich rich.”
“We are Richie Rich rich,” I correct her. “You really have to stop putting it all on me. And you are richer than I am.”
“Anyway, I just thought you should know. Now it’s off my back and I don’t have to avoid talking to you.”
“You were avoiding me?” I ask her.
“You called me twice and I didn’t answer,” she gasps. “What did you think was going on?”
“I don’t know,” I answer, flabbergasted, “that you were busy?”
“Wow.” She pushes away from the island. “It’s like you don’t even care.”
I can’t help but laugh at her. “I have to go. My lunch break is finished and my boss is back in town, and he’s an asshole.”
I shake my head, snorting. “I heard otherwise.”
“From who?” she retorts. “Say their name.” I don’t answer her. “Exactly, I’m gone. Tell Jefferson she’s a little bitch for eating the string to my bikini.”
“That was two months ago,” I shout to her back, “and I got you a replacement!”
She doesn’t answer, she just shuts the door with a bang. I look at the phone next to me, seeing it’s after four. I pick it up and decide to just call Lexi. She answers after two rings. “Hey,” she answers and I can almost see her smile on her face.
“Hey,” I say back to her, looking at the salad in my bowl and pushing it in front of me.
“How are you?” she asks and then quickly follows up with another question, “Are you back?”
“I’m good. I’m back,” I reply. “Got back a little bit ago.
“Are you at the office?” I ask, not really caring but figuring I can perhaps keep her on the phone longer.
“Nope,” she replies, “it was a work-from-home day.”
“How come you haven’t invited me to see your house?” The minute I ask her the question, I close my eyes and I want to kick myself in the balls.
She laughs. “I don’t know, I guess I haven’t had the opportunity to. Would you like to come over and see my house?”
“Now?” I ask her, wanting to go and see her desperately.
“If you are free.” She chuckles. “You can come over now.”
“Drop me a pin,” I tell her. I wait, looking at the phone for what feels like five years but is actually a couple of seconds. “I’m about twenty minutes away.”
“Okay, I’ll be here.”
I hang up the phone, rushing to my bedroom and grabbing my keys before running out and into my SUV. I stop at the place where I saw her for the first time after she left Trent and she got the cinnamon rolls I know she loved.
When I pull up to the house, I take a second to look at it, smiling when I get out and see her in the doorway.
“Wow,” I say to her, pulling the sunglasses off my face.
“She owns more jeans,” I say of the jean skirt she’s wearing.
It’s all the way to her ankles but has a huge V split in the front, showing her legs.
Her midriff is out again because of her white, sleeveless tank top.
“I have a whole row of jeans now,” she announces, a smile on her face as she moves away from the door.
“Kirby,” she says my name with a sly smile, “welcome to my home.” She moves away from the door for me to step in and all I can do is smile at her.
Lucky for me the box of cinnamon rolls is in my hand, so I don’t wrap my arms around her and give her the biggest hug—followed by kissing the ever-loving shit out of her—and then fucking her against the wall.
“Let me give you a tour, and then we can sit down.”
“I brought you these,” I say, holding up the box. “They’re the cinnamon rolls you love.”
She gasps, “I was literally craving one this afternoon and then told myself that if I was good all week long, it could be my treat on Saturday. But if they’re here, it’s rude for me not to eat one.” She looks at me. “Right?”
“It shouldn’t be a treat on a Saturday,” I tell her. “You should eat it when you want to eat it. Like on a Tuesday night or a Wednesday lunch. You don’t have to justify it,” I reply as she walks sideways.
“This is the kitchen,” she says of the little kitchen off the entrance. “It’s nothing big but—”
“It’s perfect,” I tell her as I follow her into the living and dining area. I see a round glass table with her laptop on it and her notebook beside it with writing scribbled all down the page.
“I was working before I was so rudely interrupted by someone.” She points to the table and I roll my eyes.
“It’s only two bedrooms.” She walks to the small hallway off the dining area, and I stick my head in the spare bedroom, seeing there are just racks of clothes and then stop when I look at the other side, seeing her bedroom.
The big king-size bed is in the middle with two bedside tables, but my eyes go to the frames I had made for her above her bed.
“The best part is here.” She grabs my hand and drags me back to the living room and then out the glass door to the balcony area.
“I do yoga right there every single morning.” She points to the side where there is a rolled-up yoga mat lying.
“Right when the sun is rising.” She lets my hand go and I want to snatch it back. “It’s small compared to your place.”
“It’s perfect for you,” I tell her softly, “and exactly how I thought it would look.”
The smile on her face is worth all the money in the world. “It’s windy today,” she mentions. “Let’s go inside.” She turns and walks inside. “Sit down.” She points to the couch. “I’ll go get the cinnamon rolls.”
I walk over to the couch and stop when I see what’s in the frame next to the television. I walk over to it, picking it up. “You saved it?” I ask her and she looks over at me from the kitchen, grabbing a plate out from the cupboard.
“I did,” she confirms, coming back into the room with a tray in her hand, containing two plates with two bottles of water, as she places it on the coffee table.
“It’s special. It was the one thing that made me see the light.
It’s gotten me through some tough times.
You probably had no idea when you wrote it how much it would change my life.
” She sits on the couch, grabbing a plate, and then leaning back tucking her feet under her.
“I have news,” she says and I walk over and sit beside her, but not close enough for me.
“Tell me.”
She takes a bite of the cinnamon roll before she leans over and places the plate on the table. “I was thinking about what you said on Saturday, so on Sunday I reached out to Matty and Zara,”
she shares, and I can see the tears well up in her eyes. My hand automatically goes out to rest over her curled-up legs. “I apologized to them for not being there,” she says through a shaky voice. “I’m not sure I can say this without crying.”
“It’s okay,” I encourage her softly, and she puts her arm on the back of the couch.
“It was therapeutic, I think, for all of us. I told them how sorry I was for missing all of the most important events in their lives and then, in return, they told me they were sorry for not being there for me. For not seeing the signs, for not pushing it more. Zara and I basically sobbed to each other for a full five minutes before I was even able to finish and then she said that she felt guilty for not seeing it.” She chuckles.
“Matty had some other choice words about going to Phoenix to kick his ass and Sofia said she could make sure no one knows it’s him.
His exact words were ‘If I see this fucking clown anywhere, he’s going to have a broken nose and a busted lip, and then I’m going to knee him in the balls just for fun. ’” She smiles through the tears.
I can’t help but smile at that. “I’ll help,” I tell her and she laughs. “I’ll drive the getaway car.” She smiles as she puts her elbow on the back of the couch. “How did that make you feel?”
“Stupid,” she admits, “like I knew what Trent was saying half the time was wrong, but then I doubted myself and all my choices without his input.”
“It’s what they do, it’s like they tell you how you should do things and then turn it around and make it seem like it was your idea.”
“Yes.” She shrugs. “I’m just sorry I didn’t see it sooner.”
“Everything happens when it’s supposed to happen,” I tell her.
“It was that night,” she says softly, “hearing what he had to say about my father.” She shakes her head and the tear that she has kept at bay this whole time escapes, and my other hand comes up to catch it. “It was like you threw cold water on me.”
“Lexi,” I say her name softly, the ache to kiss her is almost too painful to bear, “you beat him at his own game.” I cup her cheek in my hand.
“For the rest of his life he’s going to know he lost the best thing to ever happen to him.
” I stare into her eyes and take a second before I let go of her face.
“Thank you, for everything.”
I nod at her; not sure I can be in her space much longer. I get up and she follows me. “I should get home and get my things sorted.”
“Of course,” she says. “Do you want me to pack up the roll?”
“No.” I shake my head. “You have it.” I wish we could be eating it in her bed after I fuck her senseless.
“Thank you for the tour,” I say when I get to the door and take a step to her to hug her.
I wrap both arms around her, closing my eyes and feeling her in my arms; it’s my own brand of torture.
“Have a good night,” I say when I finally let her go and walk out the door.
She stands at the door, watching me drive away, her hand held up with a smile on her face, my heart feeling like it’s being crushed in my chest. “This is not good for you,” I tell myself, “and it’s not good for her.
” I swallow the lump down, knowing I’m going to have to just walk away from her.
“You have to let her go.” The thought alone crushes me.
“You just have to hope she comes back to you.” I blink away my own tears.
“But even if she doesn’t, you know she’s finally fucking safe, and that means everything. ”